On business.

2 Rodman Brokers Resign From Board

April 14, 1993|By William Gruber.

Two longtime brokers at Rodman & Renshaw Capital Group have resigned from the investment firm's board of directors, citing differences with its top management.

The brokers, Francis L. Kirby and Gerald B. Rivlin, also resigned as executive vice presidents. But the pair, both with reputations as heavy hitters, say they plan to continue working at the LaSalle Street firm, at least for now.

Rivlin says he sold 144,000 shares of Rodman stock last week, leaving "only a few shares that my kids still hold." Kirby says he recently sold about 60,000 shares, but continues to own "40,000 to 45,000" shares.

Their resignations came three weeks after Ira Kaufman, former chairman, sold his 12.5 percent stake of 547,000 shares. Kaufman also resigned from the board, saying he disagreed with current Chairman Kurt Karmin over the company's direction. But Kaufman still maintains an office at Rodman's headquarters.

"It's the same story," says Rivlin, who has been with the firm since 1960. "There have been differences in philosophy over running the firm and the areas we're in.

"When we were partners, we saw and helped the firm grow. Since Karmin has been in there (since 1990), it hasn't clicked. He likes commodities, but it hasn't worked.

"Until we get a strong management in here," he declares, "we aren't going anywhere."

Karmin says he asked Rivlin and Kirby to resign from the board "because they sold their stock." He confirms that disagreements arose, but won't say what they were. Karmin also says he wanted to reduce the size of the board from 14 to 10 members and get more outside directors.

"We only have one now-from Creditanstalt Bankverein," an Austrian bank that invested in Rodman three years ago, he said. Through a joint venture with the bank, Rodman does financial and commodities futures business in central and eastern Europe.

Asked if Kirby and Rivlin will stay on, Karmin replies: "As far as I know."

Rivlin says he hasn't made a decision "one way or the other."

A token contribution sought

The president of the Chicago Transit Authority says the CTA is asking more businesses to help boost ridership on the CTA by issuing more RTA Transit Checks to their employees.

"Instead of giving them a $2,000 raise this year, subtract $720 and give them that amount in transit checks," Robert Belcaster suggested to members of Rotary One Tuesday. "They're tax-free to employees, and deductible from corporate income taxes."

Checks are issued in denominations of $21, $40 and $60 by the Regional Transportation Authority and bear the employer's name. Individuals can use up to $60 worth of checks a month toward the purchase of tokens or monthly passes for the CTA, Metra, Pace and South Shore Railroad.

New York's transit system issues about $8 million in checks a month, compared with $600,000 a year by the RTA, he says. Only six companies, he adds, have signed up for the program.

Belcaster says he has prepared a draft of a letter urging support of the plan that will be sent to "all associations in town. We hope they will act as salespeople for us."

Back to work

"It was a case of serendipity," John Rau says of his selection to become dean of the Indiana University School of Business.

"I had been thinking, after two years of taking it easy, about trying to run something again," says Rau, who's been advisory committee chairman of Northwestern University's Banking Research Center since resigning as president and CEO of LaSalle National Bank in 1991.

Rau, 44, also has served for the last five months as chairman of the Illinois Economic Development Commission, a post he plans to resign, and as an adviser to Gov. Jim Edgar. He was president of Exchange National Bank until it merged with LaSalle in 1990. Before that, he worked at First National Bank of Chicago.

"I thought it would be interesting to run a school of business," Rau says. "A guy on the search committee, who happened to be my predecessor as president of the Harvard Business Club of Chicago and was an Indiana undergraduate, mentioned that IU was looking for a new business dean and asked if I'd be interested. I took it as a challenge."

BUSINESS BEAT: Students of De Paul University will get tips on etiquette from Steve Thompson, director of catering at the Drake Hotel, at a dinner April 22 at the Drake. They will learn the proper methods for handshakes, networking at a cocktail party and how to keep the power lunch off their power ties.